Fr Sean Hanafin – Past Pupil
curricular activities included debating competitions and I can still recall one year after winning a competition when the late Tom O’Halloran told me I should do something related to public speaking and, funnily enough, a year or two later I was in journalism college in Dublin.
I even remember leaving my English and Irish essays until last thing at night because they were the most enjoyable part of my homework. I still remember that sense of satisfaction when writing an essay and signing off on it and feeling happy with it. Outside of school I was involved in the football teams and even though I wasn’t that much of a footballer, I stayed involved because it was an excellent outlet. I remember on one occasion being on the sideline during an U15 college game and the three subs that day were me, Ken Savage and Morgan Nix. Ken and Morgan went on to play for Kerry which gives you an insight into just how strong the school teams were at that time.
It is a remarkable school that always exuded huge pride and I hope that it continues to do so for many more years to come. I ATTENDED the school from 1962-68 and at the time it was a school for boys who were mostly from the town. I have many fond memories of my time there and I recall a great spirit of debate and openness, even back then. It was Br Murray who encouraged us as much as he could to think for ourselves and to verbalise it. We didn’t realise it at the time, but he gave us a very healthy outlook on life and taught us to think for ourselves at a time, perhaps, when others were expected to think the same way.
I had no doubt for most of my time in the Green that I wanted to become a priest. There was always a huge connection between the school and nearby St John’s and the priests there would visit the school. My connection with St John’s started at this time.
Of the sixty pupils that sat the leaving cert in my year, eight went to study for the priesthood, which wasn’t unusual at that time. On reflection, it’s an idea of just how acceptable the priesthood and the vocational way of life was to the culture of that time.
I’m still friends with some of the guys I went to the Green with. In fact, one friend who I went to primary and secondary school with, and who is also a priest, now lives in Tehran and I went out to visit him this year. I was also lucky in the sense that I returned to Tralee where I was ministering for the past eight years and this allowed me to reconnect with many of my old school friends from the Green. We meet other friends as we go through life, but school friends are always a bit more special given the time in life that we meet.